I am a Tombstone Tourist: someone who loves to wander cemeteries. I find it akin to visiting a museum: an opportunity to enjoy rarely seen sculpture, intricate carvings, and amazing architecture, all in a tranquil outdoor setting. This blog is about cemetery culture, art, history, issues of death, and genealogy - subjects of current relevance. I usually find something that intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper. Care to join me? Read on...

Friday, July 27, 2012

Those Amazing Tree Stones

If
you’ve been a taphophile for a while, you have probably developed a special
fondness for certain gravestones, those that just seem to draw you to
them. My current favorites are the
white bronze, headstone photos, and trees stones.

I
am amazed but not surprised by the number of people who love the tree
stones. I remember the first time
I found one. There, amid a mixture
of short stones, flat stones, intricate sculpture and obelisks, set an
unassuming limestone tree stump. Touching, yet solid and dependable, maybe a true adaptation
of the person resting below.

There
is something peaceful and heartening about the natural rustic look of a tree
stone. – Life has ended but as a part of nature, we go on….

Tree
stones were popular from the 1880’s to 1920’s. They are called tree stump stones, tree trunk stones and
tree stones. Joseph Cullen Root was the founder of Modern Woodmen of America (1883) and also of Woodmen of the
World (1890,) both fraternal insurance benefit societies. Both became well known for using tree gravestones for their members. Root decided on the woodmen name after hearing a
minister describe his congregation as ‘trees in God’s forest.”

Modern
Woodmen of America (MWA) offered its members the opportunity to purchase grave
markers for deceased associates until the mid-1970’s. Cemeteries around the country also have the tree stone
monuments, engraved with the MWA initials and symbols. The MWA did not supply these grave
markers or provide any monetary assistance for their purchase to members.

However,
from 1890 to 1900, Woodmen of the World’s (WOW) life insurance policies did
have a proviso that provided for the grave markers, free of charge, for
members. From 1900 to the mid-
1920’s, members purchased a $100 rider to cover the cost of the monument. By the mid-20’s, the organization had
discontinued the grave marker benefit due to the increased cost of the stones.

As the tree gravestones became more popular, the Sears and Roebuck catalogue and
Montgomery Wards catalogue offered them for sale to the general public. A tree stone marker does not
necessarily mean that person was a member of MWA or WOW. Only if the organizations initials or
symbols are located on the stone does it indicate that the deceased was a
member of one of these organizations.

Tree
stones vary in size and height from tiny children’s stones, just a few inches
high, to soaring 10 to 12 feet high tree trunks. All have intricately carved detailing at the base, and many
ties around the trunk. You could
request certain elements be added to a stone to better tell the story of the
deceased. Many local stone makers
could incorporate these carvings on the tree stone, making them very
individualistic.

Symbols
found on the tree stones include axes, mauls, wedges, any type of tool used in
woodworking, flowers, vines, animals, chairs, buckets – anything that helped tell the
story of the person buried there.

Tree
stones also vary according to the area they were carved in and the type of
cemetery. Many local stone carvers
left their personal mark on a stone. This
carver in Illinois put mushrooms on all of his tree stones.

The
tree stones found in B'nai Abraham-Zion Cemetery in Chicago may feature an inscription in Hebrew, and photos – an extra bonus for the
Tombstone Traveler.

Many
times tree branches were broken off to show that a family member had
died. Tops were notched in certain
ways and bark appeared to be peeled back or cut off to reveal the epitaph of those buried
there.

Although
no longer available for purchase, I can’t help but believe that if they were
offered again, we would see a resurgence of tree stones in our 21st
century cemeteries – a link to our past, and a nod to nature.

About Me

I
love wine and will take any chance to sip, savor and share it! Hence, Joy’s JOY
of Wine http://joysjoyofwine.blogspot.com,
a weekly blog about all things wine. I've been in the industry for 15
years as a winery owner, marketing director, speaker, writer, wine judge, and
100% vino girl!

I'm
also a professional freelance magazine and book writer uncorking articles about
wine, food, history, travel, cemetery history and culture. My interest in
cemetery culture led to another great, or maybe I should say
"grave" gig, my weekly blog: A Grave Interest http://agraveinterest.blogspot.com where I get to travel around the country and speak about cemetery topics for genealogy, history and
education conferences.

I suppose you could say that wine is my
passion, and cemeteries are my diversion ... into another world.

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